Shoppers expect individualised shopping experience but are wary of buying on smartphones

Research from Shoppercentric has shown that shoppers expect all retail channels to flow smoothly from one to the other, but also like an individualised shopping experience which is personal to them. However, the research also highlighted consumers' concerns about security when shopping on mobile devices.

The 'Shopping in a Multichannel World' report found that in the past month, 87% of shoppers used bricks and mortar shops as part of their purchase journey while 23% used catalogues. 13% used smartphones during their purchase journeys, while 7% used Tablets.

The biggest reasons smartphone users cited for visiting stores rather than buying items on mobile devices were not being able to experience the products (51%), poor network coverage (46%) and slow connections (41%). Security concerns were even more of an issue for shopping by smartphone, with only 29% of users believing it to be a secure way to shop. According to Shoppercentric, 45% of shoppers own a smarphone and 14% a tablet.

The biggest turn-offs for shopping in store included crowding (79%), high prices (50%) and the time required to actually go shopping (50%).

Danielle Pinnington, managing director at Shoppercentric, commented: "New technology channels are changing the way we shop – the flexibility they provide gives shoppers almost universal choice and access. Despite this, our research says 45% of shoppers will always love going to the shops, no matter what new technologies are available.

"The key point is that shoppers are becoming very adept at picking and choosing the channel that suits them under particular circumstances. Yet retailers and brands have tended to compartmentalise – thinking of shoppers who shop versus shoppers who go online. They’ve even structured themselves so that the shops are managed by one team and the online by another – very few have successfully merged the two."

Commenting on shoppers' security concerns regarding shopping on smartphones and mobile devices, Pinnington said: "It's the idea of sharing information about yourself that could be used for other purposes that raises a question mark in people's minds about how secure these access points are.

"They are feeling pretty comfortable with online now, as they know when they pay for things they will get security questions coming through. But they are not seeing this level of security when shopping on smartphones using mobile applications."

She added: "There is an opportunity here for retailers to implement processes to make people feel comfortable with mobile security going forward."

Clearly another advantage that Walmart offers online customers is the ability to return a product to their local Walmart store. Online purchases typically have a high rate of return, and although most online retailers make it quite easy to do returns, it still frequently involves shipping charges and replacement cycle delays.I have seen this to be particularly onerous with clothing. Not being able to try it on prior to purchase leads to frequent misfits and return / replacement issues. Many of the national clothing retailers do not allow returns to a physical store.Simply being able to return the item, whatever it is, to a brick and morter location is a welcomed differentiator.

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